Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Not Gonna Happen
I have been fascinated with graffiti (otherwise known as street art) ever since I could remember. Even as a kid trapped in a small town in Western NY that I thought I'd never leave. I was being taught that anything that was illegal was flat out wrong. Morals and risks, checks and balances and Jesus saves and all that shit. I was taught that if you smoked out it was just as bad as if you smoked crack. Which is of course, ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, kids need structure, and I do love god, but indoctination is something else. I'm mostly disappointed in myself for being so pliable.
But I didn't get real heavy into it, as in regarding the process as as art form, until I was in my mid 20's. And saw wild style over the internet for the first time. Tes One who is from Tampa, (smile) BASK whose pieces are more like 3D pictures or sculptures, Banksy, (from England, smiles again) who does whatever he wants or has to to make a statement, (just google him, peeps.) and last but not least, Shepard Fearey, (yes, that be his real name) who is most famous for his Andre The Giant OBEY pieces. But most recently, he's gained fame for the blue and red Obama poster which he apparently lifted from the original photograph, then photoshopped it and blew it up. He's being sued by the photographer who originated the image. Uhm uh-oh. And might I add, lol. BTW, Mr. Fearey has an arts degree. But while he seems adamant about not committing copyright infringement himself, he gets mad when other artists use his stuff for a base to their work.Which I think is hypicritical. That aside, I like his work.
I don't agree with 2 things. Tagging people's personal property, (houses, cars) or infringing on other people's work. At least, not without permission.
I also like Delta, whose work is so tranformative you can't tell there's even letters involved anymore. They look like industrial sculpture sketches or something. (check out his t-shirts) They're different from his early wall work and amazing. I also like Swoon whose work is more like 3D portrait than graffitti, I think. And light graffiti? Just wow.
There was this dude from Prague who did stuff based on shape that I liked too. Damn. Can't remember his name. Parskid, Eyesuck's Alex Pardee and his collegue Robert Bowen. These last 3 have gone legit and now paint. But these are just a few of my favorites. Street art is on the rise again. Most likely because of the wars and economy. Grafitti has a politital bent too.
It says, "Hey Mr. Government man, we're still poor and struggling and these are the real issues that concern us. We the people who are still here. Go ahead and drink your vitaman water and tweet behind your pregnat wife's back. We're not going away."
And I couldn't be happier about it.
Which leads to the 2nd half of this installment. I have always created what I consider to be grafitti. Just never on a wall. As in out in public. Yeah, that apartment thing was a distaster. Thankfully, I didn't leave any evidence. Mostly it's due to the fact that I'm too old to start, although I know about dudes in their late 30's and mid 40's who've been doing it from the start. But can you imagine me walking around with cans and paint sticks (also see buffalo markers) in my backpack?? While on crutches?? Come on, seriously?? I'm too old to pull a Mr. Brainwash. He sucks by the way. Can you say overnight fraud? (See 'Exit Through The Gift shop') But I do like his relative, Space Invader. His stuff might be ripped from another source, but his tecnique is unmatched. And who in the hell would carry the bucket of rice glue and broom??
Not me obviously. I might as well be wearing and ad for the cops, in that case.
A flashing LED screen that says, 'Arrest me!'
I just have been thinking about it. A lot. I can't seem to get anywhere doing things the right way. I've entertained such ridiculous ideas as one of the above mentioned showing up because they like my work and want to take me arounf the city putting my stuff up. I already said it was ridiculous. So go roll your eyes somewhere else.
I have folders overstuffed with random sketches and ideas that I conceptualized before I gave a fuck what anyone else thought. Some excellent stuff too. Original.
Wait. Before you go off on me, let me just say I don't carry an ego in the vane of "I'm the greatest artist of my time."
It's not like that. Believe me. I just remember when it was just about the expression and that's it. And I miss that. I have yet to find anyone out there that does it like me.
If I had the luxury of being inconspicuous, I'd make some stickers and start sticking them up around town. But since I know from experience that there's about a 15 second window before someone notices me, not gonna happen. Stay tuned. Maybe I'll talk about RL in the next post. But who wants that?
But I didn't get real heavy into it, as in regarding the process as as art form, until I was in my mid 20's. And saw wild style over the internet for the first time. Tes One who is from Tampa, (smile) BASK whose pieces are more like 3D pictures or sculptures, Banksy, (from England, smiles again) who does whatever he wants or has to to make a statement, (just google him, peeps.) and last but not least, Shepard Fearey, (yes, that be his real name) who is most famous for his Andre The Giant OBEY pieces. But most recently, he's gained fame for the blue and red Obama poster which he apparently lifted from the original photograph, then photoshopped it and blew it up. He's being sued by the photographer who originated the image. Uhm uh-oh. And might I add, lol. BTW, Mr. Fearey has an arts degree. But while he seems adamant about not committing copyright infringement himself, he gets mad when other artists use his stuff for a base to their work.Which I think is hypicritical. That aside, I like his work.
I don't agree with 2 things. Tagging people's personal property, (houses, cars) or infringing on other people's work. At least, not without permission.
I also like Delta, whose work is so tranformative you can't tell there's even letters involved anymore. They look like industrial sculpture sketches or something. (check out his t-shirts) They're different from his early wall work and amazing. I also like Swoon whose work is more like 3D portrait than graffitti, I think. And light graffiti? Just wow.
There was this dude from Prague who did stuff based on shape that I liked too. Damn. Can't remember his name. Parskid, Eyesuck's Alex Pardee and his collegue Robert Bowen. These last 3 have gone legit and now paint. But these are just a few of my favorites. Street art is on the rise again. Most likely because of the wars and economy. Grafitti has a politital bent too.
It says, "Hey Mr. Government man, we're still poor and struggling and these are the real issues that concern us. We the people who are still here. Go ahead and drink your vitaman water and tweet behind your pregnat wife's back. We're not going away."
And I couldn't be happier about it.
Which leads to the 2nd half of this installment. I have always created what I consider to be grafitti. Just never on a wall. As in out in public. Yeah, that apartment thing was a distaster. Thankfully, I didn't leave any evidence. Mostly it's due to the fact that I'm too old to start, although I know about dudes in their late 30's and mid 40's who've been doing it from the start. But can you imagine me walking around with cans and paint sticks (also see buffalo markers) in my backpack?? While on crutches?? Come on, seriously?? I'm too old to pull a Mr. Brainwash. He sucks by the way. Can you say overnight fraud? (See 'Exit Through The Gift shop') But I do like his relative, Space Invader. His stuff might be ripped from another source, but his tecnique is unmatched. And who in the hell would carry the bucket of rice glue and broom??
Not me obviously. I might as well be wearing and ad for the cops, in that case.
A flashing LED screen that says, 'Arrest me!'
I just have been thinking about it. A lot. I can't seem to get anywhere doing things the right way. I've entertained such ridiculous ideas as one of the above mentioned showing up because they like my work and want to take me arounf the city putting my stuff up. I already said it was ridiculous. So go roll your eyes somewhere else.
I have folders overstuffed with random sketches and ideas that I conceptualized before I gave a fuck what anyone else thought. Some excellent stuff too. Original.
Wait. Before you go off on me, let me just say I don't carry an ego in the vane of "I'm the greatest artist of my time."
It's not like that. Believe me. I just remember when it was just about the expression and that's it. And I miss that. I have yet to find anyone out there that does it like me.
If I had the luxury of being inconspicuous, I'd make some stickers and start sticking them up around town. But since I know from experience that there's about a 15 second window before someone notices me, not gonna happen. Stay tuned. Maybe I'll talk about RL in the next post. But who wants that?
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